WATER MANAGEMENT

Water management is the activity of planning, developing, distributing and managing the optimum use of water resources. In an ideal world, water management planning has regard to all the competing demands for water and seeks to allocate water on an equitable basis to satisfy all uses and demands. This is rarely possible in practice. Managing water in urban settingsHalf of the world s people now live in towns and cities, a figure e!pected to reach two"thirds by #$%$. In the areas surrounding urban centres, agriculture must compete with industry and municipal users for safe water supplies, while traditional water sources are becoming polluted with urban wastewater. &s cities offer the best opportunities for selling produce, farmers often have no alternative to using polluted water to irrigate their crops. 'epending on how developed a city s wastewater treatment is, there can be significant health ha(ards related to the use of this water. Wastewater from cities can contain a mi!ture of pollutants. There is usually wastewater from kitchens and toilets along with rainwater runoff. This means that the water usually contains e!cessive levels of nutrients and salts, as well as a wide range of pathogens. Heavy metals may also be present, along with traces of antibiotics and endocrine disruptors, such as oestrogens. Future of water resources )ne of the biggest concerns for our water"based resources in the future is the sustainability of the current and even future water resource allocation.*+, &s water becomes more scarce the importance of how it is managed grows vastly. -inding a balance between what is needed by humans and what is needed in the environment is an important step in the sustainability of water resources. &ttempts to create sustainable freshwater systems have been seen on a national level in countries such as &ustralia and .outh &frica, and such commitment to the environment could set a model for the rest of the world. Water Resources Water is an essential resource for all life on the planet. )f the water resources on /arth only three per cent of it is not salty and two"thirds of the freshwater is locked up in ice caps and glaciers. )f the remaining one per cent, a fifth is in remote, inaccessible areas and much seasonal rainfall in monsoonal deluges and floods cannot easily be used. &t present only about $.$+ per cent of all the world s fresh water*#, is e!ploited by mankind in ever increasing demand for sanitation, drinking, manufacturing, leisure and agriculture. Agriculture &griculture is the largest user of the world0s freshwater resources, consuming 1$ per cent.*2, &s the world0s population rises and consumes more food 3currently e!ceeding 45, it is e!pected to reach 65 by #$%$7, industries and urban developments e!pand, and the emerging biofuel crops trade also demands a share of freshwater resources, water scarcity is becoming an important issue. &n assessment of water management in agriculture was conducted in #$$1 by the International Water Management Institute in .ri 8anka to see if the world had sufficient water to provide food for its growing population.*9, It assessed the current availability of water for agriculture on a global scale and mapped out locations suffering from water scarcity. It found that a fifth of the world0s people, more than :.# billion, live in areas of physical water scarcity, where there is not enough water to meet all demands. & further :.4 billion people live in areas e!periencing economic water scarcity, where the lack of investment in water or insufficient human capacity make it impossible for authorities to satisfy the demand for water.